Fuel topped off, treads are looking good, ammo stowage full. Let's roll out with part 8
"This bitch really is gonna throw these poor girls into a random fucking free for all. they can't even start their tanks without stalling?"
"Sure seems that way."
"This is asinine. They aren't gonna learn anything. At best they'll have a little bit of fun and get a lucky shot in, at worst they'll hate it and quit."
"I-it does seem a bit... mean... I mean they don't even have full crews for some, like the lee... a-and I doubt they know how to operate the guns!"
"Mmhh. If any of those first years get hurt, I'm breaking that bitches legs, Japanese SDF or no."
Joshua sighed, but he really couldn't blame his crew for thinking this was idiotic. JSDF captain and apparently the team coach Ami Chōno had decided that in order to familiarize themselves with their tanks, a random free for all match was the best course of action. They had been sitting for the last 49 minutes while the rest of the team sputtered and stalled their way to the starting points. Even Miho's tank had stalled before stuttering forward jerkily into the forest.
"Alright alright, pipe down. we'll go easy on them, but they DO need to sink or swim, and soon."
"Hey Josh, word just came in, we are a go!" Sam shouted
"Great, bout time. Mike, start her up. I want us moving down the road twords the ravine with the bridge. We'll see if we can't cut anyone off there. Hector, load AP, no need for expensive stuff"
Hector nodded, hefting the two pieces of ammunition into the gun breech before settling into his loaders seat for the ride.
The next 20 minutes were calm, Sam picking 40s music to fill the intercom system with light tunes while they proceeded to their spot on a road heading twords the port bow.
Michael spoke first, "So, boss, I saw you and our little miss Miho had a rendezvous in the Panzer after practice. What was that about?"
The shit-eating grin on his face indicated that he wasn't interested in the answer, so much as exposing a potentially embarrassing secret about his Commander and his overall Commander. Unfortunately, judging by Hector's raised eyebrow and Rachel's trademark 'romance is afoot' look, he had succeeded
Joshua grit his teeth, "Nothing happened. We had a talk about professionalism on the team. Which means no more little water fights to impress the girls."
Rachel wasn't deferred, grabbing Joshua's arm and shaking him back and forth
"Joshy!!!! Ohmygosh this is so exciting! This is just like that romance movie, Hearts of Iron, where the main character Monika Shräder falls in love with her subordinate Klaus Weber! They even had a secret rendezvous in their Panther where they made lo-"
"TH-THATS ENOUGH OF THAT! We didn't do anything!"
Hector piped up at the same time, "That scene was completely unrealistic!"
"And what would you know about romance in a tank Hector?? Love can make people flexible!"
Sam decided they were getting off track, "Wait wait waitwaitwait, We were talking about our beloved mister Whitman and our lovely miss Nishizumi here! Personally, I say good job Boss, though the redhead is a bit more my taste... or the flower girl..."
"NOTHING HAPPENED! Look, we had a talk about romance, but it was in the general sense. We both agreed this is a SENSHA-DŌ team, not some Doki-Doki Tank Club. We wanted to make sure that everyone focuses on matches instead of trying to hook up with eachother and being a shit team."
Sam looked panicked, as Michael even began to look nervous
"D-does that mean we can't... ya know..."
Joshua sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "No, you can. We're highschoolers. But please, try to keep the romance off the battlefield? the last thing I need is Miho kicking my ass because we decided we wanted to-"
BANG-KEW
"CONTACT!"the moment the word rang out, the crew jumped into position, their bickering forgotten
"No penetration! Mike, halt! Reverse left stick, hull down in the ditch! Rachel, give me some machine gun fire into the brush bearing zero-six-two!"
"Firing!"
the M1919 spoke, chattering away at the brush as Joshua kept his eyes glued to his periscope. He couldn't see anything, then suddenly to his left a flash-
CRUNCH
The tank jerked to the side before Michael halted it
"Left track is gone boss!"
"Copy, Rachel I saw muzzle flash bearing zero-five-six, bringing you on target!"
Heartbeats pounded in their head as they waited, and another muzzle flash spoke-
BANG
The crew was jolted, but already Rachel was adjusting her aim
"Impact, no penetration! they hit the turret!"
"Target aquired!"
"Fire!"
Rachel stomped her foot on the trigger, sending the 90mm shell straight through some brush. a loud 'CLANG' was heard, and a small white flag poked up from behind a shrub
"Target down! Alright, Sam, Mike, get on that track!"
The two groaned, sliding their hatches open and climbing out of the tank
Joshua popped his own hatch, whipping out his binoculars and searching the shrub
He was rewarded with the sight of a blonde headed girl in a WWII Wermacht uniform climbing out of a well concealed STuG III, looking dazed and holding her head in her hands. Joshua whistled and waved, seeing her give a thumbs up, before climbing back into her tank
"Who was it?" Cried Sam from the track
"STuG, they concealed that position incredibly well. How we looking?"
Michael was the next to come by, "Not good. They took out the front sprocket wheel, no way we can get the track back on and under tension. It's a simple fix back at the hanger but..."
Joshua cursed; without a sprocket wheel, there was no way of getting the track back on properly. They had a spare strapped to the rear of the hull, but replacing it was a 20 minute job at the minimum in a shop, longer out here.
Just as he was preparing to help his crewmates fix the tracks, Joshua heard the telltale sound of an engine approaching
"Sam, Mike, in the tank, now!"
The two scrambled to comply, buttoning up their hatches and leaving the tools on the ground.
"Rachel, I hear a tank, they may be trying to cross this road, wait for my mark. Hector, AP"
Both loader and gunner nodded, Rachel glued to her optic and Hector loading another shell and propellant cartridge
After 2 minutes, the M3 Lee came across the road 200 meters to the front, jerkily driving before stalling when trying to climb the hill on the right side. The girls hopped out, desperately pointing up the hill
"Commander?" Rachel asked
"I see them... Wait until they're either back in the tank or at least 50 yards from it. I don't want them getting hurt"
Unfortunately, it seems someone didn't share the sentiment, as a sharp CRACK eminated form the forest on their left side
The I-go came rolling out between the Lee and the T32, it's turret facing to the rear and firing into the forest, before the Panzer 38 (t) also roared out, firing it's gun at the Japanese light tank, neither one hitting until the I go scored a lucky shot on the Panzers turret
"Commander?"
"No, not yet... let them play. Be good for them to get some seat time."
The freshmen girls were cowering behind their tank, fortunately relatively safe from the shells flying 100 yards from their position. Even at point blank, the Panzer was missing every single shot
The Americans watched the light tanks go at it for a while, watching as the I-go eventually peppered enough shots to disable the 38 (t), and began turning on the Lee before stopping, obviously reluctant to fire with the freshmen exposed
"Joshy..."
Smiling at his overeager gunner, he replied "Go ahead, have fun"
Rachel smiled, before firing a single round at the I-go, causing it to slowly turn it's turret as the too hatch opened
The commander of the Japanese tank turned her head desperately, before seeing the 90mm gun of Sugar Blues bearing down on her. Her face paled, and she froze
"Wake her up, Rache"
Rachel fired another single round at the hull, the noise startling the girl who dove back into her tank
Once she was inside, Rachel let the 90mm speak, silencing the forest and knocking the I-go back 10 feet. Sam looked saddened, but Rachel was all smiles as she got to fire her gun
"Hec, another AP. good shooting Rache. now, the Lee"
Rache began turning the turret, before a loud BANG eminated from the rear of the tank, and the engine sputtered and died
"What the- CONTACT, CONTACT REAR!
Joshua spun his periscope around as Rachel brought the turret, seeing the Panzer IV just as it dissapeared behind a mass of trees. Rachel tried tracking it, but she was getting only glimpses of gray between the foliage. Suddenly, the turret stopped moving on its own
"Shit, batteries out without the engine! hand crank, hand crank Rachel!"
She hurried to comply, Joshua lending his assistance before the Panzer roared up from behind the trees and fired again, this time dashing forwards whole the slower turret struggled to track it
"How the hell did she learn to drive like that?!" Joshua shouted
"Less talk, more gun!" was Hector's only reply, hefting a shell upwards and ready to load
Rachel continued to try and track the Panzer IV, but the manual rotation of the turret hindered her as the German tank pumped shell after shell into the rear of the tank
Finally, Rachel got a bead on, and fired the 90mm, destroying the rear of the Panzers track and forcing it to halt. As Hector scrambled to load the final round in the breech, the Panzer spoke once more, firing it's 75mm HEAT shell directly into the T32s cannon barrel, deforming it completely and warping the gun steel inwards.
"HOLD FIRE, HOLD FIRE! Our guns blocked! she blocked our goddamn gun!"
Both tanks continued to stare at eachother; The T32 was unable to fire safely, and the Panzer could only penetrate the engine compartment before the shell was registered as having been absorbed by the large block of metal, before reaching any other critical components
Joshua popped his hatch open, followed quickly by Miho. The two stared at eachother, Miho waving slightly before Joshua called out to her
"Jesus woman, remind me to never let you into a Panther!"
Miho called back, "Actually, I prefer Tigers!"
"Does that extra 13mm in the gun really make that much of a difference?"
The former Kuromorimine member giggled before responding, "A girl knows what she likes! 13cm can make a world of difference!"
Joshua had to bite back his laughter, before being pinched in the leg. Looking down at the offender, he saw Rachel beaming up at him and throwing him a thumbs up.
Kicking away his gunner and blushing, Joshua turned his attention back to his opponent.
"My idea was actually to get everyone to work together! But on the way the student council and the volleyball team got into an argument about their sport being cancelled, and well... you saw what happened then!"
"Well it was a good plan. But right now, seems we have a stalemate. You almost had us."
Mihos smile changed; gone was the smile of a friend teasing her comrade, or the smirk of a girl teasing a boy; in its place was a cold smile, the smile of a lioness who had just found a gazelle laying in her territory
"Almost?"
Joshua was puzzled, until a small rock hit his helmet from the left side
"Hi senpai!"
Joshua slowly turned to see the M3 Lee positioned 3 feet from the side of his tank, aiming 90 degrees straight on at his hull with its sponsoon-mounted 75mm gun, having re entered their tank and positioned themselves while the crew was distracted behind them. Azusa waved enthusiastically at him before turning to Miho
"Now Nishizumi-senpai?"
"Let's let our friend get inside his tank first! we don't want his hearing hurt in practice!"
"Okay! Senpai, please enter your tank now! Oh! Oh! And please tell Hector-chan we said hi!"
Josh slowly nodded, dropping into his tank and shutting the hatch
Michael was the first to ask, having not heard the conversation from his position in the front of the tank with the turret facing the rear
"So? did we get them? or we just gonna call it a draw?"
A loud CRACK from the right side of the tank and the sound of their white flag popping up was more than enough answer. The crew sat in silence, embarassment, shame, and (in Hector's case) a bit of pride, as Ami Chōno announced that the Lee and Panzer IV were the victors (adding that technically, as the Lee was the least damaged, they had taken the overall victory).
Joshua was in shock, but the gears in his head were slowly turning... they only had outdated tanks, sure... hell, some were even nearly useless, like the I-Go... but, with a woman like Miho Nishizumi at the helm, Joshua Whitman began to actually consider, for the first time, that they could take the Sensha-Dō championship
Hope I did the tank battle justice, but I feel like maybe I suck at writing combat scenes. My research shows that each of the shells fired by the Panzer and Lee would be able to penetrate the indicated spots, and without the engine operational the turret would have to be hand cranked. I pictured this fight taking place on a small road with steep hills on either side, forcing the T32 into a bit of a bottleneck, which for a front heavy tank is great, unless you get flanked.As always review and read, characters are property of their respective owners, Panzerkampftwagen IV is property of Friedrich Krupp AG.